Ares
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encyclopedia
This article is about the
ancient Greek god. For other uses, see Ares (disambiguation).
Ares
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 Statue of Ares from Hadrian's Villa |
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God of war and violence
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Abode
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Symbol
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Parents
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Siblings
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Hebe, Hephaestus, Enyo,Heracles,
and Eileithyia
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Children
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Roman equivalent
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Ares (Ancient Greek: Ἄρης [árɛːs], Μodern Greek:
Άρης [ˈaris]) is the Greek god of war.
He is one of the Twelve Olympians,
and the son of Zeus and Hera.[1] In Greek literature, he often represents the
physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose
functions as a goddess of
intelligence include military
strategy and generalship.[2]
The Greeks were ambivalent toward Ares: although
he embodied the physical valor necessary for success in war, he was a dangerous
force, "overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and
man-slaughtering."[3] Fear (Phobos) and
Terror (Deimos) were
yoked to his battle chariot.[4] In the Iliad his father Zeus tells him that he is
the god most hateful to him.[5] An association with Ares endows places
and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.[6] His value as a war god is even placed
in doubt: during the Trojan War,
Ares was on the losing side, while Athena, often depicted in Greek art as holding Nike (Victory) in her hand, favored the triumphant
Greeks.[7]
Ares plays a relatively limited role in Greek mythology as represented in literary narratives,
though his numerous love affairs and abundant offspring are often alludedto.[8] When Ares does appear in myths, he
typically faces humiliation.[9] He is well known as the lover of Aphrodite,
the goddess of love who was married to Hephaestus,
god of craftsmanship,[10] but the most famous story involving
the couple shows them exposed to ridicule through the wronged husband's clever
device.[11]
The counterpart of Ares among the Roman gods is Mars,
who as a father of the Roman people held a more important and dignified place
in ancient Roman religion for his agricultural and tutelary functions. During the Hellenization of Latin literature,
the myths of Ares were reinterpreted by
Roman writers under the name of Mars. Greek writers under Roman rule also recorded cult practices and beliefs pertaining to Mars under
the name of Ares. Thus in the classical tradition of later Western art and
literature, the mythology of the two figures becomes virtually
indistinguishable.
Contents
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13 Notes
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Names and epithets
The etymology of the name Ares is traditionally connected with the Greek word ἀρή (arē), the Ionic form of the Doric ἀρά (ara), "bane, ruin,
curse, imprecation".[12] There may also be a connection with
the Roman god of war Mars,
via hypothetical Proto-Indo-European *M̥rēs;[citation needed] compare Ancient Greek μάρναμαι (marnamai), "to fight, to
battle", or Punjabi maarna (to kill, to hit).[13] The earliest attested form of the name
is the Mycenaean Greek a-re, written in Linear B syllabic script.[14] Walter Burkert notes that "Ares is apparently an
ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."[15]
The adjectival epithet Areios was frequently appended to the names
of other gods when they take on a warrior aspect or become involved in warfare: Zeus Areios, Athena Areia, even Aphrodite Areia. In the Iliad, the word ares is used as a common noun synonymous with "battle."[3]
Inscriptions as early as Mycenaean times, and continuing into the Classical period,
attest to Enyalios,
another name for the god of war.
Character and origins
Ares was one of the Twelve Olympians in the
archaic tradition represented by the Iliad and Odyssey,
but Zeus expresses a recurring Greek revulsion toward the god when Ares returns
wounded and complaining from the battlefield at
Troy:
Then looking at him darkly Zeus who gathers the
clouds spoke to him:
'Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar.
To me you are the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympos.
Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart, wars and battles.
…
And yet I will not long endure to see you in pain, since
you are my child, and it was to me that your mother bore you.
But were you born of some other god and proved so ruinous
long since you would have been dropped beneath the gods of the bright sky."[16]
'Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar.
To me you are the most hateful of all gods who hold Olympos.
Forever quarrelling is dear to your heart, wars and battles.
…
And yet I will not long endure to see you in pain, since
you are my child, and it was to me that your mother bore you.
But were you born of some other god and proved so ruinous
long since you would have been dropped beneath the gods of the bright sky."[16]
This ambivalence is expressed also in the god's
association with the Thracians,
who were regarded by the Greeks as a barbarous and warlike people.[17] Thrace was Ares' birthplace, true home, and
refuge after the affair with Aphrodite was exposed to the general mockery of
the other gods.[18]
A late 6th-century BC funerary inscription from Attica emphasizes the consequences of coming
under Ares' sway:
Stay and mourn at the tomb of dead Kroisos
Whom raging Ares destroyed one day, fighting in the foremost ranks.[19]
Whom raging Ares destroyed one day, fighting in the foremost ranks.[19]
In Macedonia, however, he was viewed as a
bearded war veteran with superb military skills and physical strength. The ancient Macedonians looked up to Ares as a divine leader
as well as a god.[citation needed] InSparta Ares was viewed as a masculine soldier in which his resilience,
physical strength and military intelligence was unrivaled.[citation needed]
Attributes
The Ares Borghese
The birds of Ares (Ornithes Areioi) were a
flock of feather-dart-dropping birds that guarded the Amazons'
shrine of the god on a coastal island in the Black Sea.[20] Vultures and dogs, both of which prey
upon carrion in the battlefield, were sacred to him.[citation needed]
Cult and ritual
Although Ares received occasional sacrifice from
armies going to war, the god had a formal temple and cult at only a few sites.[21] At Sparta, however,
youths each sacrificed a puppy toEnyalios before
engaging in ritual fighting at the Phoebaeum.[22] The chthonic night-time sacrifice of a dog to
Enyalios became assimilated to the cult of Ares.[citation needed]
Just east of Sparta
The temple to Ares in the agora of Athens that Pausanias saw
in the second century AD had only been moved and rededicated there during the
time of Augustus;
in essence it was a Roman temple to the Augustan Mars Ultor.[21] The Areopagus,
the "mount of Ares" where Paul of Tarsus preached, is sited at some distance
from the Acropolis; from archaic times it was a site of trials. Its connection
with Ares, perhaps based on a false etymology, is purely etiological myth.[citation needed] A second temple has also been located
at the archaeological site of Metropolisin what is now Western Turkey.[citation needed]
Attendants
Deimos, "Terror" or
"Dread", and Phobos, "Fear", are his companions in
war[24] and also his children, borne by Aphrodite,
according to Hesiod.[25] The sister[citation needed] and companion of the violent Ares is Eris,
the goddess of discord, or Enyo, the goddess of war,
bloodshed, and violence. Enyalius, rather than another name for Ares, in at
least one tradition was his son by Enyo.[26]
Ares may also be accompanied by Kydoimos,
the demon of the din of battle; the Makhai ("Battles"); thev
"Hysminai" ("Acts of manslaughter"); Polemos,
a minor spirit of war, or only an epithet of Ares, since it has no specific
dominion; and Polemos's daughter, Alala, the goddess or personification of the Greek war-cry, whose name Ares
uses as his own war-cry. Ares's sister Hebe,
"Youth," also draws baths for him.
According to Pausanias,
local inhabitants of Therapne, Sparta, recognized Thero "feral,
savage" as a nurse of Ares.[27]
Founding of Thebes
One of the roles of Ares that was sited in
mainland Greece itself was in the founding myth of Thebes: Ares was the progenitor of
the water-dragon slain by Cadmus, for the
dragon's teeth were sown into the ground as if a crop and sprung up as the
fully armored autochthonic Spartoi.
To propitiate Ares, Cadmus took as a bride Harmonia, daughter of Ares' union with
Aphrodite, thus harmonizing all strife and founding the city of Thebes
Consorts and children
The union of Ares and Aphrodite created the gods Eros, Anteros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, and Adrestia.
While Eros and Anteros' godly stations favored their mother, Adrestia by far
preferred to emulate her father, often accompanying him to war.[citation needed]
Ares, upon one occasion, incurred the anger of Poseidon by slaying his son Halirrhothius,
who had raped Alcippe, another daughter of the war-god. For this deed, Poseidon
summoned Ares to appear before the tribunal of the Olympic gods, which was held
upon a hill in Athens
There are accounts of a son of Ares, Cycnus (Κύκνος) of Macedonia, who was so murderous that he tried
to build a temple with the skulls and the bones of travellers.Heracles slaughtered this abominable
monstrosity, engendering the wrath of Ares, whom the hero wounded.[citation needed]
List of Ares' consorts and
children
1.
Aphrodite
1.
Eros
2.
Anteros
3.
Harmonia
4.
Phobos
5.
Deimos
6.
Adrasteia
2.
Aerope
1.
Aeropus
3.
Aglauros
1.
Alcippe
4.
Althaea
1.
Meleager (possibly)
1.
Ascalaphus
2.
Ialmenus
6.
Atalanta
1.
Parthenopaeus (possibly)
7.
Caldene, daughter of Pisidus
1.
Solymus (possibly)
8.
Callirrhoe, daughter of Nestus
1.
Biston
2.
Odomas
3.
Edonus
9.
Critobule
1.
Pangaeus[30]
10. Cyrene
11. Demonice
1.
Euenus
2.
Thestius
3.
Molus
4.
Pylus
12. Dormothea
1.
Stymphelus[32]
1.
Phlegyas
14. Eos
16. Harmonia
1.
The Amazons
17. Leodoce
(?)[33]
18. Otrera
1.
Hippolyta
2.
Antiope
3.
Melanippe
4.
Penthesilea
19. Parnassa
/ Aegina
20. Phylonome
1.
Lycastus
2.
Parrhasius
21. Protogeneia
1.
Oxylus
1.
Cycnus
23. Sterope (Pleiad) / Harpinna, daughter of Asopus / Eurythoe the Danaid
1.
Oenomaus
24. Persephone (wooed her unsuccessfully)
1.
Tanagra
25. Tereine,
daughter of Strymon
1.
Thrassa (mother of Polyphonte)
26. Theogone
1.
Tmolus[35]
27. Triteia
1.
Melanippus
28. mothers
unknown
2.
Dryas
4.
Nisos (possibly)
5.
Portheus (Porthaon)
6.
Sithon (possibly)
7.
Tereus
Hymns to Ares
Homeric
Hymn 8 to Ares (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.)
"Ares, exceeding in strength,
chariot-rider, golden-helmed, doughty in heart, shield-bearer, Saviour of
cities, harnessed in bronze, strong of arm, unwearying, mighty with the spear,
O defender of Olympos, father of warlike Nike (Victory), ally of Themis, stern
governor of the rebellious, leader of the righteous men, sceptred King of
manliness, who whirl your fiery sphere [the star Mars] among the planets in
their sevenfold courses through the aither wherein your blazing steeds ever
bear you above the third firmament of heaven; hear me, helper of men, giver of
dauntless youth! Shed down a kindly ray from above upon my life, and strength
of war, that I may be able to drive away bitter cowardice from my head and
crush down the deceitful impulses of my soul. Restrain also the keen fury of my
heart which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife. Rather, O
blessed one, give you me boldness to abide within the harmless laws of peace,
avoiding strife and hatred and the violent fiends of death."
Orphic Hymn 65 to Ares (trans. Taylor
"To Ares, Fumigation from
Frankincense. Magnanimous, unconquered, boisterous Ares, in darts rejoicing,
and in bloody wars; fierce and untamed, whose mighty power can make the
strongest walls from their foundations shake: mortal-destroying king, defiled
with gore, pleased with war’s dreadful and tumultuous roar. Thee human blood,
and swords, and spears delight, and the dire ruin of mad savage fight. Stay
furious contests, and avenging strife, whose works with woe embitter human
life; to lovely Kyrpis [Aphrodite] and to Lyaios [Dionysos] yield, for arms
exchange the labours of the field; encourage peace, to gentle works inclined,
and give abundance, with benignant mind."
Other accounts
The Ludovisi Ares,
Roman version of a Greek original ca. 320 BC, with 17th-century restorations
by Bernini
In the tale sung by the bard in the hall of Alcinous,[38] the Sun-god Helios once spied Ares and Aphrodite enjoying
each other secretly in the hall of Hephaestus,
and he promptly reported the incident to Aphrodite's Olympian consort.
Hephaestus contrived to catch the couple in the act, and so he fashioned a
finely-knitted and nearly invisible net with which to snare the illicit lovers.
At the appropriate time, this net was sprung, and trapped Ares and Aphrodite
locked in very private embrace. But Hephaestus was not yet satisfied with his
revenge — he invited the Olympian gods and goddesses to view the unfortunate
pair. For the sake of modesty, the goddesses demurred, but the male gods went
to witness the sight. Some commented on the beauty of Aphrodite, others
remarked that they would eagerly trade places with Ares, but all who were
present mocked the two. Once the couple were loosed, Ares, embarrassed,
returned to his homeland, Thrace
In a much later interpolated detail, Ares put the
youth Alectryon by
his door to warn them of Helios' arrival, as Helios would tell Hephaestus of
Aphrodite's infidelity if the two were discovered, but Alectryon fell asleep.
Helios discovered the two and alerted Hephaestus. Ares was furious and turned
Alectryon into a rooster,
which now never forgets to announce the arrival of the sun in the morning.
Ares and the giants
In one archaic myth related only in the Iliad by the goddess Dione to her daughter Aphrodite, two
chthonic giants, the Aloadae,
named Otus and Ephialtes, threw Ares into chains and put him in a bronze urn,
where he remained for thirteen months, a lunar year.
"And that would have been the end of Ares and his appetite for war, if the
beautifulEriboea,
the young giants' stepmother, had not told Hermes what they had done," she related.[40] "In this one suspects a festival
of licence which is unleashed in the thirteenth month."[41] Ares remained screaming and howling in
the urn until Hermes rescued him and Artemis tricked the Aloadae into slaying each
other. In Nonnus'Dionysiaca[42] Ares also killed Ekhidnades, the giant
son of Echidna and
a great enemy of the gods; it is not clear whether the nameless Ekhidnades
("of Echidna's lineage") was entirely Nonnus' invention or not.
The Iliad
In the Iliad,[43] Homer represented Ares as having no fixed
allegiances, rewarding courage on both sides: he promised Athena and Hera that
he would fight on the side of the Achaeans (Iliad V.830–834, XXI.410–414), but Aphrodite was able to persuade Ares to side with
the Trojans. During the war, Diomedes fought with Hector and saw Ares fighting on the Trojans'
side. Diomedes called for his soldiers to fall back slowly (V.590–605). Hera,
Ares's mother, saw his interference and asked Zeus, his father, for permission
to drive Ares away from the battlefield, which Zeus granted (V.711–769). Hera
and Athena encouraged Diomedes to attack Ares (V.780–834). Diomedes thrust with
his spear at Ares, with Athena driving it home, and Ares' cries made Achaeans
and Trojans alike tremble (V.855–864). Ares fled to Mt. Olympus,
forcing the Trojans to fall back.
When Hera during a conversation with Zeus
mentioned that Ares' son Ascalaphus was killed, Ares wanted to again join the
fight on the side of the Achaeans disregarding Zeus' order that no Olympic god
should enter the battle, but Athena stopped him (XV.110–128). Later, when Zeus allowed the gods to fight in the war
again (XX.20–29), Ares was the first to act, attacking Athena to avenge himself
for his previous injury, but Athena managed to overpower him by striking Ares
with a boulder (XXI.391–408).
Renaissance
In Renaissance and Neoclassical works of art, Ares' symbols are a
spear and helmet, his animal is a dog, and his bird is the vulture. In literary
works of these eras, Ares is replaced by the Roman Mars, a romantic emblem of
manly valor rather than the cruel and blood-thirsty god of Greek mythology.
Popular culture
 |
Wikimedia
Commons has media related to: Ares (god)
|
Main
article: Ares in popular culture
Ares figures in war-themed video games and in popular fictions. Ares is also the name of NASA's transport ship
replacing the Space Shuttle,
an extension of NASA's uses of Saturn for manned
rockets, Mercury for a satellite
program, and the Apollo program,
rather than as any reflection of the intrinsic nature of the war god.
See also
Related Greek Deities
§
Aphrodite (Goddess
of love)
§
Hera (Mother )
§
Zeus (Father)
Children by Aphrodite
§
Harmonia (Concord)
§
Eros (Passionate Love)
§
Phobos (Fear)
§
Deimos (Terror)
§
Adrestia (Revenge)
§
Anteros (Requited
Love)
Friends and Counselors
§
Themis (Divine
Law)
§
Nike (Victory)
§
Dike (Good Judgement)
Attendants
§
Achlys (Death)
§
Androktasiai (Slaughter)
§
Alala (War Cry)
§
Eris (Strife)
§
Enyo (Violence)
§
Hebe (Life)
§
Homados (Battle
Din)
§
Hysminai (Combat)
§
Kydoimos (Confusion)
§
Keres (Death Spirits)
§
Makhai (Spirits
of Battle)
§
Palioxis (Backrush)
§
Polemos (War)
§
Proioxis (Onrush)
Similar Deities in Non-Greek
Cultures
§
Liberty
§
Mars
§
Nergal, Babylonian god associated with the planet Mars
Archetype Characteristics
§
Courage
§
Boldness
§
Freedom
Notes
1.
^ Hesiod, Theogony 921 (Loeb Classical Library numbering); Iliad, 5.890–896. By
contrast, Ares' Roman counterpart Mars was born from Juno alone, according to Ovid (Fasti 5.229–260).
2.
^ Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (Blackwell, 1985, 2004 reprint,
originally published 1977 in German), pp. 141; William Hansen, Classical Mythology: A Guide to the
Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans(Oxford University Press, 2005), p.
113.
4.
^ Burkert, Greek Religion, p.169.
6.
^ Hansen, Classical Mythology, pp.
114–115.
7.
^ Burkert, Greek Religion,p. 169.
8.
^ Hansen, Classical Mythology, pp.
113–114; Burkert, Greek
Religion, p. 169.
9.
^ Hansen, Classical Mythology, pp.
113–114. See for instance Ares and the
giants below.
10. ^ In the Iliad, however, the wife of
Hephaestus is Charis, "Grace," as noted by Burkert, Greek Religion, p. 168.
12. ^ Online Etymology
Dictionary; Are,
Georg Autenrieth, A Homeric
Dictionary, at Perseus; Are,
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A
Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
14. ^ Palaeolexicon,
Word study tool of ancient languages
15. ^ Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (Harvard) 1985:pt III.2.12 p 169.
16. ^ Iliad, Book
5, lines 798–891, 895–898 in the translation of Richmond Lattimore.
18. ^ Homer Odyssey viii. 361; for Ares/Mars and Thrace,
see Ovid, Ars Amatoria,
book ii.part xi.585, which tells the same tale: "Their captive bodies are,
with difficulty, freed, at your plea, Neptune: Venus runs to Paphos: Mars heads
for Thrace."; for Ares/Mars and Thrace, see also Statius, Thebaid vii. 42; Herodotus,
iv. 59, 62.
19. ^ Athens, NM 3851 quoted in
Andrew Stewart, One Hundred
Greek Sculptors: Their Careers and Extant Works, Introduction: I. "The
Sources"
20. ^ Argonautica (ii.382ff and 1031ff; Hyginus, Fabulae 30.
22. ^ "Here each company of
youths sacrifices a puppy to Enyalius, holding that the most valiant of tame
animals is an acceptable victim to the most valiant of the gods. I know of no
other Greeks who are accustomed to sacrifice puppies except the people of Colophon;
these too sacrifice a puppy, a black bitch, to the Wayside Goddess." Pausanias, 3.14.9.
23. ^ "Opposite this temple [the
temple of Hipposthenes] is an old image of Enyalius in fetters. The idea the
Lacedaemonians express by this image is the same as the Athenians express by
their Wingless Victory; the former think that Enyalius will never run away from
them, being bound in the fetters, while the Athenians think that Victory,
having no wings, will always remain where she is." Pausanias, 3.15.7.
24. ^ Iliad 4.436f, and 13.299f' Hesiodic Shield of Heracles 191, 460; Quintus
Smyrnaeus, 10.51, etc.
26. ^ Eustathius on Homer 944
28. ^ Burkert, Greek Religion, p.169.
29. ^ Berens, E.M.: Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece
and Rome, page 113. Project Gutenberg, 2007.
30. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, On Rivers, 3. 2
31. ^ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 2. 5. 8
32. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, On Rivers, 19. 1
34. ^ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 2. 946
35. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, On Rivers, 7. 5
37. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, Greek and Roman Parallel Stories,
23
39. ^ "Odyssey,
8.295". "In Robert Fagles'
translation ""…and the two lovers, free of the bonds that overwhelmed
them so, sprang up and away at once, and the Wargod sped Thrace, while Love
with her telltale laughter sped to Paphos…"."
40. ^ Iliad 5.385–391.
41. ^ Burkert
(1985). Greek Religion. pp. 169.
42. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 18. 274 ff; Theoi.com,
"Ekhidnades".
43. ^ References to Ares' appearance
in the Iliad are collected and quoted at www.theoi.com:
Ares Myths 2
External links
§
Theoi Project,
Ares information on
Ares from classical literature, Greek and Roman art.
§
Facebook
Archetype Page Image
Gallery and Popular Contemporary Mentions
§
Greek Mythology
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Ares in myth
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